Experienced IT workers in high demand in 2013

By Brittany Ballenstedt

January 4, 2013

There is little doubt that demand for skilled information technology workers will remain strong in the new year, with nearly two-thirds of hiring managers and recruiters saying their companies or clients will likely add new technology workers in the first six months of 2013, according to a recent survey by IT jobs website Dice.com.

Still, respondents to that same survey noted some IT positions that will remain lower on their priority list for hiring in 2013, with most emphasizing one key theme: Less experience equals less priority in terms of hiring, Dice found.

For example, those tech-focused hiring pros noted that hiring entry-level IT talent will not be a high priority, with more seasoned, experienced workers in greater demand.

“Anecdotally, recruiters and hiring managers reminded us that first-wrung hires not only need core attributes like passion, creativity and self-motivation, they can also need a bachelor’s degree and more than a passing familiarity with advanced skills,” the report states.

There also will be less demand for quality assurance professionals, though Dice emphasizes that the job market for those professionals still looks bright at the start of 2013.

Mainframe skills also are lower on the hiring priority list, but as mainframes remain crucial to large government agencies and companies, the need for new mainframe hires is still there, particularly as a generation of those programmers hit retirement age, Dice found.

Finally, support and administrative personnel ranked lowest on the list of IT hiring priorities. Computer support specialists, for example, have a 6 percent unemployment rate, which is the highest among tech professionals, Dice found. But there’s still hope for these skill sets: “As more companies shift to the cloud for IT needs and more support staff work in the field using mobile devices,” the report states, “this skillset will evolve, amping up the need for quality hires to service end users.”

How do your skills stack up against this year’s list of IT hiring priorities? Is 2013 a year to make a resolution to learn some new skills?